Healthy Living is on consumers’ minds as we approach silly season but keep one eye on new, healthy habits next year…
With December excess only weeks away, we here at The Ozone Project think the nation’s attention isn’t just focused on having oodles of festive frolics but that it’s also tuned in to doing so with one eye on their wellbeing, as healthy living - a key pandemic trend - continues.
Friday 19th November 2021
More so than last year, we think consumers are increasingly engaging with our Healthy Living category. In the second week of November alone, Healthy Living page views grew by +19% week on week to 3.6m - that’s a whopping +70% when compared to the same week a year ago. Much of that engagement is with content related to weight loss and fitness & exercise - the latter being a key lockdown trend that has continued as consumers look to give their immune systems a boost during cold and flu season - and maybe to get ready for the Christmas party dance floor?
Running - a key lockdown trend - continues to see healthy engagement among our Healthy Living audience
When looking at the category over the last year, one of the emerging patterns is that our healthy living audience has tended to further their engagement with related content around key events. There are no surprises the January health blitz elevates engagement, but so to do sporting events and success, with Britain’s sporting summer and the October London Marathon both page view drivers for the Healthy Living category, as the shown below:
We’ve seen Healthy Living audiences and engagement with related content grow around key events throughout the year, including January’s all important post-Christmas health kick
Among the notable trends…
January 2021 saw engagement with our Healthy Living category almost double vs. December 2020, with average weekly page views up +94%
Average weekly page view in the 2 weeks after Euro 2020 kicked off were +39% higher than in the fortnight before the tournament began
Continuing interest in running content saw healthy living engagement peak in London Marathon week, with 6.0m page views that week up +26%
UPDATE: In the 7 days to 21st November, we saw double the amount of engagement with our Healthy Living category as a year ago, with 4.3m weekly page views +100% higher than the same week in November 2020. See Reading the Nation here.
Sticking with running, which is what millions of Brits have turned to since lockdown restrictions were lifted in the summer, we have also seen a notable growth in engagement with the topics. This includes a mile-busting +154% increase in engagement with the Participant Sport topic in the last three months vs. the prior quarter, with social sport, such as Park Run, back on.
As well as fitness & exercise and weight loss, our other top performing healthy living topics by engagement include women's health, senior health and nutrition, with a connected trend to the latter being vegan diets and healthy cooking. The sub topics from our Food & Drink category, have both enjoyed significant growth in engagement with page views uo by +54% and +42% respectively in the last 4 weeks (vs. the previous 4-week period).
Finally, let’s not forget the impact of key nationwide or global initiatives, such as World Mental Health day. In the last 4 weeks there's been a +86% increase in engagement with Men's Health content vs. the prior 4 weeks, correlating with the arrival of Movember moustaches up and down the country.
